Read Online The Unexpected Holiday Gift by Sophie Pembroke - Free Book Online

space for her either, she’d realised as the months had trickled on. Desire... They’d still had that, right to the end. Even if it turned out that was all that they’d had.
    She hadn’t set out to become pregnant. She’d never trick someone into parenthood and wouldn’t wish being unwanted on any child. Her own experience—a mother who’d fallen pregnant at sixteen, been forced to marry the father, then had resented both her child and her husband ever since—had ensured that she understood those consequences better than most. But when she’d realised that she was... That glow had returned, brighter than ever before. And she’d known that this was her chance—maybe her only chance—to have a family of her own. One where she mattered, where she belonged—and where her child could have all the love and attention that she’d missed out on.
    Would Merry understand any of that? She’d try to, Clara knew. She was her best friend, after all. But if you hadn’t lived it, the pain and weight that grew every day from simply not mattering... It was hard to imagine.
    â€˜Mostly, we wanted different things,’ she said, gathering up her paperwork. Time to move on. ‘I wanted a family—he didn’t.’ Didn’t was a bit of an understatement. Vehemently refused to even consider the idea was closer to the truth.
    â€˜And now you have Ivy,’ Merry said. ‘So everything worked out in the end.’
    â€˜Yes, it did.’ She wouldn’t give Ivy up for all the diamond bracelets in the world. She’d hate for Ivy to suffer the sort of rejection she had suffered—the feeling of knowing you were unwanted by your own family, the very people who were supposed to love you more than anyone in the world. She knew how that burned. She never wanted Ivy to experience that.
    But now she had to make a choice. Let Jacob into his daughter’s life—or cut him out forever. And the worst part was, it wasn’t entirely her choice to make.
    Clara sighed and picked up a stack of email printouts. It was far easier to focus on organising the perfect Christmas than to figure out how to tell her ex-husband he was a father.
    â€˜Right. These are all the latest things Jacob has requested for his Christmas retreat. Think you can start working your way through them?’
    Merry looked resigned as she took the pile of paper from Clara. ‘Any chance you think he might give you another diamond bracelet this year?’
    Clara laughed in spite of herself. ‘I doubt it. Why?’
    â€˜If he does, don’t leave it this time, yeah? Some of us like a bit of sparkle in our lives.’
    * * *
    Jacob pressed the code into the number pad and waited for the gate to swing open before driving through and parking behind his father’s big black car on the gravel driveway. Heather’s pink Mini was missing but his mum’s little red convertible was still there. That was okay. Heather already knew what he was planning and it was probably best to tell his parents together anyway.
    It hadn’t occurred to him until Clara asked what his parents thought about their Scottish Christmas that they might be anything other than thrilled. He was giving them the perfect retreat—what more could they want? But the look in Clara’s eye on their shopping trip had told him he was missing something. Hence the drive to Surrey to fill them in on the plan.
    He let himself in the front door without knocking, and the scent of evergreen pine and cinnamon hit him instantly. The hallway as a whole was dominated by an oversized Christmas tree, tastefully decorated in gold and red, with touches of tartan. The wide, curving staircase had garlands of greenery and red berries twirling around the banister all the way to the first floor, and bowls of dried fruits and spices sat on the console table next to the front door.
    Christmas, as he remembered it at home,